Botswana, Population lessons for the rest of the world

The African nation has had one of the fastest falls in fertility rates due to its family planning initiatives

At the end of a dusty road sits a small concrete building with an orange door. It is a structure so modest and remote that it is hard to believe it could hold lessons for addressing one of the world’s biggest challenges.This is the medical hub for Gasita, a village of 2,000 people in southern Botswana. Inside, pharmaceutical supplies are neatly stacked on shelves and a photograph of the country’s president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, is propped up on a counter.

Outposts such as this – providing family planning services and health education – have helped bring about one of the world’s most remarkable demographic shifts.

Fifty years ago, Botswanan women would have seven children on average ; now they have fewer than three. It ’s a dramatic decline that merits scrutiny.